Brodie Clark

A lot of SEOs & SEO agencies are going to have had clients asking why organic performance has declined. So, client education is key. In this example a client came for an SEO audit because clicks were dropping off, they exhibited concerns about their current SEO agencies ability to deliver, but when you look at the right hand image you can see categorically POSITIVE movement from the SEO. I explained to the client over a loom video about their exposure to "INFORMATIONAL" queries which was where a majority of clicks had been lost to and explained that the agency hadn't done anything wrong. But, this is a REAL issue. Google lied - Liz Reid VP and head of google search said: “We’ve found that with AI Overviews, people use Search more, and are more satisfied with their results” and that “the links included in AI Overviews get more clicks than if the page had appeared as a traditional web listing. But she knew this was a lie. 25+ years people who use search engines click on links to get their answers / wants / needs. So when you launch something that answers questions IN SEARCH that is 1000% NOT going to increase clicks, its going to decrease clicks. The ISSUE here is two-fold, but the main one being: IF you train your LLM on peoples content and then resummarise peoples content but you don't give them the click you take away the EXCHANGE OF VALUE. Google + Publishers have had a relatively stable relationship over time - EXCHANGE of value looked like this: 🌟 10 years ago: 🩷 Google crawled roughly 2 pages for every 1 visitor it sent to publishers 🤮 Six months ago: Google’s crawl-to-click ratio rose to 6 : 1. OpenAI's crawl-to-click hit 1,500 : 1. Anthropic’s was a staggering 60,000 : 1 🤢 Today (as of July 2025): Google: 18 : 1 OpenAI: 1,500 : 1 Anthropic: 60,000 : 1 Do you see what's happening here? SEO thrived on the production of informational content. For many shit agencies it was an easy route for deliverables and irrelevant vanity traffic growth. For good agencies it provided an opportunity to reach people in different stages of their "CONSIDERATION" phases. But when you errode the benefit what then? So - the ADOPTION MODEL for SEO is and will continue to change: 1. You need to work HARDER for clicks 2. You need to work HARDER on conversion - make each click of greater opportunity to convert 3. DO NOT produce content for the sake of it - produce it to REALLY solve a problem, strike a cord, influence a decision and distribute it FURTHER than just uploading it as a page on your site SEO is still TOTALLY viable, but, it just got harder. In a way, it will drive a gap between THOSE who CAN do a good job and those who capitalise on people who don't understand SEO but want it (sheisters). Let me make this clear - Google OWES publishers I'm not anti-Google but I am anti what they are doing Google should ABOLISH AIOS and allow 2 models of search 1. Traditional Search 2. AI Mode conversational search

2,058

156 Comments

SEO updates you ✨NEED✨ to know [21st July]: ✅ The June 2025 Core Update completed its rollout on 17 July 2025. This appears to have been a relatively quiet core update compared to some of the more volatile recent changes. 🕵️ ​OpenAI launches ChatGPT agent. This is one of the first major demonstrations of the "agentic web" future that many experts are predicting. ChatGPT was able to browse, compare and order a roast dinner from a single prompt. 🔘 ​Google adds an AI Mode button to their homepage. This is important as it shows Google is taking steps towards integrating AI Mode more directly into their main search function, rather than a separate, optional tab. 📑 ​Google Discover adds AI summaries. Discover has been a way for some publishers to continue receiving clicks despite the seeming omnipresence of AI Overviews on the main Google SERPs. Those days may be ending soon... 🔍 ​AI Mode adds new Deep Search and agentic search features. These functions, powered by Gemini 2.5 Pro, had been previously announced by Google and are now available for Pro & Ultra subscribers. via Barry Schwartz 🤑 ​OpenAI plans to take a cut of revenue made from sales via ChatGPT. This type of monetisation strategy may mean that ChatGPT won't have to rely on paid search as its primary revenue source, like Google currently does. via Erik Wikander 🪱 ​Hacked sites and expired domains are still cited by ChatGPT. While traditional SEO results can be exploited, the problem seems to be far worse with AI Search Results, showing increasing levels of spam every week. via James Brockbank 🗺️ ​Google updates its local ranking documentation. I just want to save you some time here: Despite a significant number of changes to the page, there are no significant changes to local search ranking factors and best practices. 📊 ​GSC introduces a comparison feature for 24-hour view. Following on from the addition of the 24-hour view, users can now compare the last 24 hours to the previous 24 hours in the GSC performance report. 💌 If you like these kinds of no-fluff tl;dr updates, then great news! We curate and send them out weekly for free on our newsletter: Core Updates. Not only that, but you get 5 SEO tips and a deep dive podcast too, this week Jack Chambers-Ward talks to Salvatore J. Manzi about communication strategies for digital marketing. Links to everything in my first comment because there isn't enough room here. Click "Recent" and scroll if LinkedIn is making it hard to find! ⤵️

233

12 Comments

The biggest SEO threats are often invisible. (How to uncover them instantly in WordPress) Website rankings often drop due to hidden technical issues: → Broken links → Missing metadata → Slow site speed → Security vulnerabilities → And many more Search engines treat these errors as signals of poor site quality. The longer they stay unresolved, the harder it is to maintain rankings. But running a manual audit is time-consuming and inaccurate. That’s where All in One SEO (AIOSEO)’s Site Audit feature comes in. ↳ It scans your website inside WordPress and shows exactly what to fix. ↳ No need to switch between multiple tools. Here’s how to run your first audit: Step 1: Install AIOSEO → Download the AIOSEO plugin from aioseo .com or the WordPress directory → Install and activate the plugin to unlock the Site Audit feature Step 2: Run a Site Audit → Go to AIOSEO → Site Audit. → Start a scan to see checks, warnings, and critical issues. Step 3: Review the Homepage Audit → Check titles, meta descriptions, and headings. → Spot site speed or security problems. Step 4: Analyze the Report → See issues for every page on your site. → Open detailed fixes at the page level. Step 5: Apply 1-Click Fixes → Jump directly to issues in the editor. → Resolve or ignore them instantly. Step 6: Explore All Checks View → Group problems by type: critical, warnings, or good. → Fix the most impactful issues first. Step 7: Monitor Site Health → Track your SEO health score after each scan. → Run unlimited audits to stay ahead of new issues. Good site health = Higher search rankings ↳ Instead of guessing, you’ll know exactly what holds your site back. ↳ And the best part: it all happens inside WordPress. 📌 Try Site Audit by AIOSEO today: https://bit.ly/3JPtUqf 🔄 Repost to help others with SEO #SEO #WordPress #SiteAudit #SearchTraffic #AIOSEOPartnership #SponsoredByAIOSEO

861

232 Comments

Long Live Traditional SEO This is the number of traffic sent by Google and ChatGPT to websites.  • Google = 41.91% • ChatGPT = 0.19% I have said this many times without any STUDY or DATA that BASIC SEO is the best and BASIC SEO is the only Advanced SEO, nothing else. And now a study conducted by Ahrefs on 44,421 sites proves my words 100% right. These LLMs are extra sources to generate traffic and places to optimize which makes #SEO more interesting and competitive too. But your 100% shift to LLM is a complete waste of time. Now the decision is yours: what to optimize and where to optimize for whom and why? Follow Sourabh Rana for interesting insights about Digital marketing. #SEORana

165

12 Comments

SEO News: if you missed my post over the weekend, there’s been some massive fluctuations to data in GSC. Interestingly, this change may actually point to a broader underlying issue in our data that was originally thought to be related to the AI overviews rollout. Impressions going up but clicks not following. This has been the shared understanding of the SEO community based on recent studies, but we may be now discovering how flawed this methodology was in the first place. Google has been pushing back on these studies recently and the disabling of &num=100 may have motives outside of preventing competition from scraping their search results. The outcome? Well, it seems like desktop impressions in particular in GSC for many sites (due to desktop being the primary rank tracking surface) may have been heavily influenced from an influx in bots (due to new AI analytics entrants) scraping their search results. We can see this in the graph shown, where desktop impressions have dropped a whopping 200K impressions overnight for this site, forcing average position to move in a direction that is more close to mobile. So you’re telling me 200K daily impressions on desktop were from scraper tools!? That seems a bit ridiculous, but potentially not fully outlandish. There is likely more to this story. The reason for this is that by default, most users would have the top 10 search results shown in Search. An impression is only recorded in GSC if the result is loaded on that page and the link is within visible, but it doesn’t need to be scrolled into view. When the top 100 results are loaded, this will completely throw this dataset out of whack, causing the average position to increase dramatically. Many think that Google has made this change to prevent external services abusing their systems. While this may be true, I do wonder whether there are ulterior motives in putting “the great decoupling” theories to rest.

676

59 Comments

Most brands are doing SEO wrong in 4 layers. (And don’t realise which one’s holding them back.) Here’s the brutal truth: Every drop of visibility you're losing falls into one of these buckets: AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) – The Snapshot Game - Winning AI overviews, featured snippets, voice queries - It's how you get chosen in search—not just listed - Skip this? You’ll never show up in AI answers GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) – The Citation Battle - Getting cited in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini - Write for prompts, clusters, comparisons - Ignore this? AI will skip you for your competitor AIO (AI Integration Optimization) – The Scale Factor - Automate briefs, scale content, repurpose smartly - Programmatic SEO meets internal efficiency - No AIO? You’ll burn out before you scale up SXO (Search Experience Optimization) – The Conversion Engine - UX, speed, mobile flow, scroll depth - Turn clicks into customers—not bounces - Miss this? High traffic, low results Let’s take 2 real-world examples: DTC Brand Reality: AEO: Missed voice snippets and product schema GEO: No AI citations, poor content depth AIO: Manual content ops, no workflows SXO: Slow checkout flow, low conversions SaaS Startup Truth: AEO: Weak FAQs, no entity markup GEO: Blog lacks citations or prompt relevance AIO: No system for scaling blog or docs SXO: Long forms, high bounce on mobile Most marketers blend all of SEO together. Then wonder why their content isn’t compounding. But when you separate them? AEO: Gets you found in AI GEO: Gets you cited and trusted AIO: Gets you scalable content SXO: Gets you real conversions Crucial signals: No AEO? You’re invisible in AI search Weak GEO? You’re never referenced No AIO? You’re not scaling content Poor SXO? You're leaking conversions Common traps: Writing content with no structure (AEO fail) Publishing without citations or depth (GEO fail) Treating SEO as a 1-person job (AIO fail) Ignoring UX and page flow (SXO fail) The uncomfortable truth: Your competitors showing up in ChatGPT results? They’ve already figured this out. While you're writing more posts… They’re getting chosen, cited, scaled, and clicked. Your next SEO win isn’t a new blog post. It’s seeing where your strategy is actually leaking. Stop guessing SEO only. Start managing SEO with AEO, GEO, AIO, and SXO. That’s how you rank in 2025 and stay there Ready to future-proof your SEO? Explore how the new Semrush AI Toolkit... helps you write, rank, optimize, and convert... all in one place. Try Now: https://lnkd.in/e8zZsBNm ♻️ Repost it to share with your network Follow me Madhav Mistry for insights on marketing

1,106

55 Comments

SEO agency we're working with has an interesting theory: ultra-granular collections based on search intent. Example: Instead of just one collection called 'Mens Shirts' with filters, they want 'Mens Blue Shirts Size L' as its own collection. Following this approach, they're adding 150+ collections total. The logic: Collections rank better than product pages in Shopify, and exact-match URLs capture specific buyer intent. Potential wins: - Capturing high-intent searches (size + color + product type) - Collection authority vs individual products - More indexed pages targeting long-tail keywords The alternative would be one strong collection with robust filtering, but that assumes shoppers use filters (many don't). Anyone tried this granular approach? Genuinely curious about real-world results.

84

102 Comments

Most People Think SEO = “Just Content” They’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg. 🧊 For many, SEO still looks like: -Cranking out blog posts -Keyword stuffing -Basic meta tags -Spammy backlinks -A one-and-done checklist But in 2025, SEO is way more layered and strategic than that. What SEO Actually Is: 1. Quality content that stays fresh 2. Keyword intent + smart variations 3. Technical SEO (speed, schema, crawlability) 4. Authoritative backlinks, not spammy ones 5. UX that keeps users engaged 6. Local SEO + glowing reviews 7. Data-driven decisions 8. dapting to ever-evolving algorithms 9 Voice search optimization 10. Core Web Vitals (because Google cares) 11. Internal linking strategy 12. Mobile-first experiences 13. Semantic keyword relevance 14. E-E-A-T: Expertise, Experience, Authority, Trust 15. Video optimization for SERP features 🎯 SEO in 2025 It’s not a blog post. It’s a full-blown strategy. Treat it like one. #SEO #DigitalMarketing #ContentStrategy #SearchEngineOptimization #SEOTips #Marketing #Google #VoiceSearch

123

26 Comments